Audiovisual methods for teaching in veterinary sciences: an alternative and complementary tool

Abstract

The European Higher Education Area requires to update our educational approach from the system of lectures to other ones based on innovative teaching techniques and self-learning. This makes available a high number of educational resources, as those related to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which have an important role in the standards of Bologna. The need to use animals in the training of professionals in Veterinary is undeniable as well as to provide them with the appropriate level of welfare related to their status of living beings. However, taking account the University policy on animal protection and the objective of reducing the number of animals in the practices (European Convention for the Protection of Animals used for experimentation, teachers and other scientific purposes), ICT can be very useful in the area of Health Sciences, and particularly in Veterinary Sciences, to improve understanding of the theoretical part of the subjects. Over the past years, our team in the Veterinary School of the University Complutense of Madrid has been developed various ICT to complement the traditional teaching practices in various subjects. These projects have been based on electronic format as digital video discs (DVDs) that include images and commonly manipulations in a reduced number of animals that are found in centers of teaching, research and in factory farms. This material clearly shows and explains the most important physiological phenomena and management techniques in a real and integrated way. It has been done for laboratory animals (rat, mouse, rabbit) and medium-sized animals as dogs used for clinical practices. On the other hand, these kinds of methodologies have also been focused to give an audiovisual explanation about basic management of exotic animals (domestic and wild birds and reptilian). In this case, their access, study and handling is great difficult. Also, this electronic format is used to explain some reproductive techniques absolutely essential, as artificial insemination technique for researchers or from a productive point of view for the students. Thus, in the modern context of teaching this material based on the new audiovisual and communication technologies can guarantee the students access to more educational material, minimizing the number of animals used and with the necessary quality for a complete understanding of those procedures. The result is an interactive and accessible e-learning tool that can be listened or read. It is adapted to the graduate as well as the postgraduate students, for practical and theoretical sessions, and can be applied to different species of animals and in several subjects in the Bachelor of Veterinary and related sciences. An additional advantage is the use in any time and place since the audiovisual hardware is practically eternal. In conclusion, this project is a complementary tool that facilitates the training of students combining the new technologies and the possibility to learn some animal procedures in detail that otherwise would be impossible to examine.